Hand-hole plate for boilers.



No.854,061. PATENTED MAY 21.1901

R. c; STEVENS. HAND HOLE PLATE FOR BOILERS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6. 1906.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 47 ATTORNEY- rlql WIS rirlll ca, autumn-,1

ROBERT CLARK STEVENS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

HAND-HOLE P LATE FOR BOILERS- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

Application filed June 6,1906. Serial No. 320.409.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, .ROBERT CLARK STE- VENS, a citizenof-the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in I-IandHole Plates for Boilers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to hand hole plates.

Hitherto it has been customary to provide the outer sheets of waterlegs or headers of water tube boilers with elliptical or similarly shaped apertures to permit of the inspection the blowing out of the plate.

or repair of the water tubes therethrough. These hand holes or apertures have been closed by means of similarly shaped hand hole plates passed through the holes and equipped at their edges with a suitable packing ring of metal or what not, the plates being of a size larger than the apertures and adapted to register therewith. The elliptical hole and plate are with difIiculty machined and such hole removes an excess of metal. It has also been customary to use round hand hole openings, with a similar plate, larger than the opening, packing against the outside of the sheet and held against the pressure by a bolt and arch. This type of plate often blows out due to the breaking of' the restraining bolt. It has likewise been customary to use round hand hole openings with similarly shaped plates of size equal to or slightly smaller than the openings, said plates being packed by a metal ring whose shearing strength resists ficult to insert and oft-times blow out because of defects in the gasket. Plates have also been made in'two pieces for insertion through round hand hole openings. These present many joints requiring packing and are therefore expensive to' make and handle and are unreliable. Boilers have also had a combination of round and elliptical holes ance with my invention cannot blowout.

These are dif Another object of my invention is the provision of a hand hole and plate, both of which can be much more easily and inexpensively constructed than the old style plates, and both of which can readily be machined. on their bearing surfaces, if desired.

A further object attained by my invention is the strengthening of the header sheet by avoiding the removal of unnecessary metal,

which is one objection to the oval, elliptical or other shaped hand holes, except round hand holes such as I employ. By means also of my round hand holeI obtain more ligament strength between the stay bolts of a header and the hand holes when used on a flat surface, as well as enabling me to provide more hand holes to a given area than plan be attained with any other shaped hand ole.

Another advantage possessed by my construction is that the plate itself is of one piece and not composite as in former structures.

A still further advantage resides in the fact that although I use a one piece hand hole plate, with a round hand hole, I can pack it on the inside, nor am I aware of any other construction possessing these advantages.

To'these and other ends therefore, my invention consists in certain novel features and combinations of parts such as will be more fully described hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Inthe accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a hand hole plate and gasket removed, Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sea tional view through the hand-hole plate and a portion of a header sheet equipped with my invention, Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a slightly modified form of packing ring, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view in reduced size, of the hand hole plate.

- A indicates a portion of a suitable header sheet which may be flat as'shown and is provided with the round or trulycircular hand hole 1. The inner surface of the header sheet A around the hole 1 may be machined or faced, or not as desired, or it may be flanged or tapered. These holes can be punched in the sheet inexpensively and without loss of time. As a closure for such hand hole openings Iprovide a circular hand hole plate B which is slightly larger in diameter than is the hole 1, such plate being preferably a cut away on its outer face to form the circular flange or shoulder 3 designed to receive a gasket 4 of copper, lead, wire and asbestos composition, or equivalent material. The

face of the hand hole plate may be pressed outwardly or thickened to form a frustoconical projection, as at 5, which projection I have in the present instance, shown as being recessed at 6 to receive the head of the bolt 7 or the head may be cast in the face of the hand hole plate or secured thereto in any suitable manner. This diverging surface formed by the projection, is adapted to guide the gasket to its seat on the flange.

The stem of the bolt is threaded to receive a nut 8, which nut engages a cover, crab or arch 9, the base of which rests against the outer face of the header sheet. This cover or crab may be slotted as at 10 to receive the stem of the bolt so that instead of entirely disassembling the parts when it is desired to remove the hand hole plate, all that is necessary is to slack off the nut which will permit the cover to become loose whereupon it may be removed. The gasket 4 is then removed from the hand hole plate by bringing said gasket forward to the thickened face of the plate and springing it together, after which the plate may be turned until its minor axis registers with the opening 1 whereupon it may be removed therefrom. The cover plate, if of steel plate, may also be provided with a finger hole 13 to permit of ready handling.

In order that the hand hole plate may be inserted and withdrawn, it is necessary to remove a section from the opposite sides of the plate as indicated by the shear 11, 11. This shear removes opposite portions of the flange 3, the shears being parallel with each other and spaced a distance apart slightly less than equal to the diameter of the round hand hole opening 1. I now have a round hand hole plate which is flattened on opposite sides. The flange or shoulder 3 follows the contour of the plate or disk and preferably may receive a perfectly circular gasket. The plate is also provided with guide lugs 12, 12, for centering the plate after its insertion through the hand hole opening, the lugs adapted to engage the periphery of the opemng 1. Furthermore, it will be noted that the base of the plate is beveled as at 14 whereby I reduce the thickness of the plate so that it may pass edgewise through the hand hole opening whereas a thicker plate could not be passed through the opening.

In placing the hand hole plate in positlon,

. it is first turned edgewise and passed through the opening 1. The resilient or flexible gasket is then sprung in the hand and lnserted within the hand hole opening around the projecting portion 5 of the plate which latter is thencentered by means of the three or more lugs 12, 12, and drawn outward until the gasket rests on the flange and against the inner face of the header sheet whereupon the cover, crab or other suitable means may be placed in position, the protruding threaded end of the bolt being received in the slot in the cover or crab and the nut applied and screwed down against the cover or arch to draw the hand hole plate firmly against the header sheet, the gasket lying between the plate and sheet and packing the joint therebetween.

The face of the flange or shoulder may be machined or not as desired. Whether machined or not, the guide lugs project into its circumference as shovm and the gasket must be recessed at such points to pass over the lugs. The gasket is perfectly circular, but in some instances, I may prefer to use a gasket shaped like that shown in Fig. 3 which is thickened at those portions where it overlies the flattened portion of the plate. Either gasket will, however, overlap and extend beyond the outer periphery of the flange at the flatted portions of the plate.

A glance at the drawings will show that the gasket is provided with a solid metal backing (the flange 1) throughout the greater part of its periphery and that such backing overlaps the header sheet around the opening 1 throughout its entire circumference save at the two oppositely located flatted portions of the plate and at such portions only is the shear strength of the gasket depended upon to prevent leakage. And even at such points it will be observed that the periphery of the plate is almost in alinement with the periphery of the opening whereby the liability of disaster is reduced to the lowest possible minimum. The gasket at all points has a bearing on the hand hole plate as well as on i the boiler plate.

From the foregoing, therefore, it is plain that I have devised a hand hole plate which positively cannot be blown out of the header even though the packing at the flatted portions be destroyed and in this connection it will be observed that the packing at the flattened portions of the plate is protected by a metal backing (the flange) which gradually increases in width from the center of theflattened portion.

It is evident, therefore, that many changes might be made in the form and arrangement or of the material of the several parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention and hence I do not wish to limit myself to the exact construction herein set forth. Moreover the construction is adaptable to any location where hand holes or man holes are required.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention what I claim as new is 1. The combination with a header or other sheet provided with a truly circular untapered unflanged opening therein, of a round closure therefor, of larger diameter than the opening, said closure being flatted on two op- IIO posite sides to permit its passage through the opening, the distance between the flatted portions being approximately equal to the diameter of the opening.

2. The combination with a header or other sheet provided with a round opening therein, of a round closure therefor, of larger diameter than the opening, said closure being flatted on two opposite sides to permit its passage through the opening, the distance between the flatted portions being approxi mately equal to the diameter of the opening, and guide lugs on the closure for centering it relative to the opening.

3. The combination with a header or other sheet having a truly circular untapered uncry of the closure, the flange being flatted or cut away at diametrically opposite points and a gasket receivable on the flange.

4. The combination with a header or other sheet having a truly circular opening therein, of a circularclosure therefor, of greater diameter than the opening, a flange formed around the maximum periphery of the closure, the closure and flange being flatted at two opposite points, and a packing ring receivable on the flange the inner periphery of the packing ring being flatted to correspond with the flatted portions of the closure.

5. The combination with a header or other sheet having a truly circular opening, of a circular closure therefor of greater diameter than the opening, the closure being flatted at two diametrically opposite points, the dis tance between the flatted portions being a proximately equal to the diameter of t e opening, a flange formed around the maximum periphery of the closure, and conforming to the flatted contour thereof, and a packingring receivable on the flange, the packing ring extending beyond the flange at the flatted portions thereof.

' 6. The combination with a header or other sheet having a truly circular opening there through, of a circular closure for said opening, the closure being of greater diameter than the opening, a flange formed around the maximum periphery of the closure, the flange being flatted at two diametrically opposite points and a circular packing ring on the flange, the ring extending beyond the flange at the flatted portions thereof.

7. The combination with a header or other sheet having a truly circular opening therein, a circular closure therefor, of greater diameter than the opening, a flange formed around the greatest diameter of the closure, the flange only of the closure being flatted at two opposite points, lugs on the closure to center it relative to the opening, and a packing ring receivable on the flange, the closure adapted to pass through the opening.

8. The combination with a header or other sheet having a truly circular opening therein, of a one-piece circular inside-packed closure of largerjsizefthanithe opening and adapted to pass through and close the opening,a flange on the closure to receive the packing, the flange and closure being flatted at two oppo site points to enable it to pass through the opening, the flange overlapping the inner face of the header sheet around the opening except at the points of greatest flattening.

9. The combination with a sheet having a truly circular opening, of a handhole late comprising a circular closure, a flat- 'aced flange on the closure, the maximum diameter of the flange being larger than the diameter of the opening, the flange being flatted at two opposite points to permit the closure to be inserted through the opening, the flat face of the flange adapted to bear against the inner face of the sheet, and a gasket interposed between the face of the flange and the inner face of the sheet.

10; The combination with a header sheet having a truly circular opening therein, of a round closure therefor of larger diameter than the opening, said closure being flatted on two diametrically op osite sides to pe'r mit of its passage through the opening and a flexible ring or gasket of larger diameter than the opening, such ring carried by the closure and engaging the inner face of the sheet around the opening.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature in presence of tWo witnesses.

ROBERT CLARK STEVENS.

Witnesses M. H. GREGG, DORA OKEEFE. 

